Good soybean harvest keeps Ohio River busy

EAST LIVERPOOL -- The grain and barge operations on the Ohio River in Columbiana County are bustling these days thanks to a good soybean harvest and a growing export market for the versatile crop grown by Mahoning Valley and western Pennsylvania farmers.
Ralph Wince, grain merchandiser at Agland Co-op Inc. in Canfield, said the company is transferring soybeans from elevators in Canfield, Lisbon and New Philadelphia to the Agland Co-op barge terminal facility in East Liverpool on the Ohio River, while some farmers are driving their filled semis directly to the site.
Already this month six barges of soybeans have been loaded at East Liverpool. Each barge contains about 60,000 bushels of soybeans and takes about 12 to 14 hours to load, Wince said.
After that, it takes three weeks for the barges to work their way down the Mississippi River and arrive at a facility in Myrtle Grove, La., on the Gulf of Mexico and then transported to various world markets. China, for instance, is a large purchaser of soybeans grown in the U.S., Wince said.
He noted that "while it appears agriculture is local, the Valley is in the world market."
Agland will continue to load soybeans in December, January and part of February.
Wince said the crop of soybeans in the area has been a good this year despite a wet spring.
"Farmers in local counties, except for Mahoning, were able to plant their crop in a timely manner this year and had a fairly good harvest," Wince said.
He noted that Agland deals with 250 farmers in the area that sell soybeans for export.
Local farm operations with 50-60 acres aren't big enough to transport their crops to East Liverpool, so they take them to Agland elevators in Canfield, Lisbon and New Philadelphia, and Agland then ships them to East Liverpool.
Wince noted that soybeans provides good value for local farmers because there are so many uses for the crop and its byproducts -- feeding both people and livestock, as well as making printing inks, cooking oils and diesel fuels. Soybeans are even used in plastics.
"There's so much versatility; that helps the price for the farmer long term," Wince said.
The grain merchandiser noted that the weak dollar overseas is helping U.S. exports.
"Exports like soybeans becomes more affordable and demand goes up," Wince said.
The price paid for soybeans has been increasing at the Gulf of Mexico.
"In turn that price increase gets passed on to companies like Agland, and they in turn increase the price paid to the local farmers," Wince said.
Agriculture contributed $80 billion to Ohio's economy last year, continuing its reign as the No. 1 industry in the state, Wince said.